Now you don’t need to be Cathy Freeman to run at Sydney Olympic Park but it definitely inspires you knowing she won gold here. I’m convinced I was quicker than normal!

Sydney Olympic Park is based in Homebush, about 15km from Sydney CBD, and a short train ride away. It’s a great place to visit to get site of the stadiums and sporting grandeur of Australia. There are some fantastic runs, walks and bike paths around the park and you take in the stadiums, bushland and parks. It’s very flat with the odd, very small, hill so you feel fast and a little bit like Cathy…perhaps.

I ran a mixture of the Olympic Circuit and Parklands Circuit so approximately 11km in total. I started near the hotels on Olympic Boulevard and headed north to the park; then ran towards Wentworth Park and cut in to Badu Mangroves. This part of the run is beautiful and quite remote but beware depending on the time of day you run. I ran at dusk and paid the price after being eaten alive by the local mosquito population.

One of our favourite walks is the Huts Walk in the alpine ranges around Mount Hotham. This is a fantastic 21km walk to undertake on a beautiful sunny day (definitely don’t try this in the snow!).

The walk circumnavigates many of the ski fields in Hotham and visits some of the historic huts so, along with pushing your fitness, it also enables you to take in some of the history of the area.

The walk starts from the Loch Car Park just outside of the main Hotham village. Walk along the Great Alpine Road until you drop in to the ranges at the Davenport Access Track. It’s well worth taking the detour to visit the Silver Brumby hut near the Blue Ribbon chair, a great example of a mountain hut.

The walk generally is undulating but the 1.4km up to Spargo’s hut really gets the heart racing and you get some great views. Walk from the river in the valley floor right up to the peak. If you’re a keen skier you’ll be very familiar with the Orchard and Gotcha lifts so it’s great to see these as you wander by.

So you’ve got your runners, you have the gear and you’re ready to go. You hit the streets running, go for ten, maybe even twenty minutes with some walking, get home, pull up sore the next day and that’s it until the next time you’re on a get fit regime. Sound familiar?

Hopefully Run Rabbit will be able to help you through this.

In the Getting Started blog, I mention a plan is needed which you can stick to. Here is a general plan aimed at those who haven’t run much before or haven’t run in a while but have some fitness from walking or the gym. If you have run recently perhaps skip to week 4. This plan is based on the walk/ run technique. I started off running this way 18 years ago and, if I ever have a break due to injury or eating too much Christmas pudding, I always go back to this method. It works and it motivates you to keep going!

Week 1

Walk for 3 minutes, jog steadily for 1 minute. Repeat 4 times. Do this session three times this week, ideally every other day so that you give your legs a rest.

Week 2

Walk for 4 minutes, jog for 2 minutes. Repeat 4 times. Do this session three times this week.

Maybe you have grand plans of running a marathon; perhaps you want to lose a few pounds or do you just want to get a bit fitter? Whatever your motivation to run you first need to put one foot in front of the other and start small.

So here’s Run Rabbit’s advice before you even set foot outside the door.

What’s the carrot? What are you actually trying to achieve? Write down the goal and stick it on the fridge, tell people about it and chase it. Make it measurable; e.g. I want to run 5km non stop within 4 weeks or I want to run 10km in under 60 minutes within 2 months.